poetry

At the moment, the manuscript of my first novel has seventeen chapters. I’ve submitted most of it to my editing team, three or four chapters at a time, and most of their feedback has been fantastic, and just the right amount of pointing out confusing things or minor errors, and making good suggestions, without making

While I was at Smith College, probably in the spring semester of 1994, I took an American Theater class. It was there that I first heard of August Wilson, and read his award-winning play, Fences. I don’t actually read too many plays, but I’ve always enjoyed attending the performances. (Thinking back, at this moment, it’s

[TL;DR: I’m donating a portion of the sales of my poetry book, from now through the end of the year, to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. There’s more info about them, and links, in the post below. My ebook is only 99 cents, a small amount for most people, and the more copies I sell,

For many devoted readers of ebooks, the only thing better than being able to purchase an ebook and download it to their device almost instantaneously, is being able to borrow an ebook from their local library, for free, and download it immediately to their device. Books in any format can be expensive, and sometimes it’s

Just got this into my head and wanted to “jot it down,” might try to expand it more later, or might not. A year ago tonight, my mother passed away.In the Eastern Time Zone, it’s tomorrow,but here in Kansas, it was, it’s still, today. Imagine the many words we couldn’t saywill be fiery red flowers

Only a few hours after my mother died on October 14, 2009, I got up during the night and began writing this poem. I added to it on October 16, but then didn’t really touch it until last week. Then, I decided to type it up on the computer, maybe do some editing as I

Anchor “Widely expected,if you will,cataclysm.” Things I’d say,am saying, to persons no longerpresent. Yards away trim junipersmake their customarybows. “Oh, no thank you”to any of it. If you watch mefrom increasing distance, I am writing thisalways This poem is from the collection that just won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Versed by Rae Armantrout. I

I received The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing through LibraryThing‘s Early Reviewers program, and I’m so so grateful that I did. Thank you to LT and to the publisher, Bloomsbury, for the opportunity to read and review this book. As I read the book, I marked the Table of Contents to indicate

This is from a post I originally published on my blog at MySpace. (I checked the other day, and apparently I haven’t logged into my MySpace account since October 2008. Jeff didn’t know how that could be right, but I know it’s been a LONG, LONG TIME, and I know how the months fly by

Small confession: this post is more for my benefit than for anyone else, and I apologize. I have a pile of books that I really need to get to soon, and I’m putting the list down here as an extended “note to self,” so that I won’t get sidetracked by something that looks good but